How Tiktok Ads and Online Retailers Get Under Your Skin
“Wait, babe, don’t leave just yet!” A full-screen popup appears on attempt to leave the Princess Polly website, offering you a 10% coupon in hopes that you’ll stay and make a (now discounted) purchase. On Amazon, millions of products are
Entering a Land of No Return – Contact Tracing in the Era of COVID-19
The COVID-19 global health crisis brought about a reality few could imagine in their lifetime. Even those in the United States, who experienced the HIV/AIDS epidemic and 9/11 lockdown measures, have never quite seen something like the current global state
COVID-19 Is Changing How Artists Think of Art
Paola Torres Núñez del Prado has spent most of her life away from Peru. She went to college in New York and created her career in Stockholm. Her work showed up first on the pages of Swedish news sites and
Revealing Motivated Ignorance within Silicon Valley
Source: The New Yorker. February 19th, 2017 marked a day of reckoning for ride-sharing company, Uber. In her essay, “Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber,” Susan Fowler, now tech opinion editor for the New York Times, detailed her
More Veritas, Please!
To the Harvard Administration, First, thank you for your foresight. At the time, your decision to move us all off campus in the span of just a few days felt rash, but in hindsight, it was timely, appropriate, and wise. For
If AI is biased, how should we use it?
Source: University of Toronto Magazine. Even in the unprecedented time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the headlines are inundated with ways that artificial intelligence is being used to assist coronavirus patients and perhaps even prevent future pandemics. Not far from these auspicious articles are
Making Digital Space Ours
Physical spaces hold our memories for us. Sitting at my desk, I feel all the time I’ve spent here reading novels. I remember phone calls with friends in highschool and writing code late at night and drawing badly. The desk
Striking a Chord with Technology, Interview with Vijay Iyer
Source: The New Yorker. Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of interviewing the esteemed artist Vijay Iyer, a grammy-award winning jazz pianist, composer, electronic musician, scholar, and Harvard music faculty member. In many ways, the experience was surreal. The two
Homecoming
32 I.O. (years in orbit)The history lesson I taught last Tuesday was meant to be the highlight of the semester. Not just for me, but for the middle school kids I teach. I’m not sure what history classes were like
An Unusual Poet
Let’s start with two poems. Glance over the first one and consider how it makes you feel. Ponder the author’s message: what might have inspired them to write this? For best results, jot down the ideas and emotions the poem